Last week’s record high solar energy generation beats the 2015 record by about 2,000 MW, and is double the high mark reached in 2014. The series of record-breaking highs are indicative of the massive growth of utility-scale solar power in California, as well as its massive number of sunny days. Because of that, CAISO expects the record to be broken time and time again in the months and years to come.

While CAISO is California’s largest electric utility, it only accounts for around 80 percent of the state’s power grid. CAISO includes the jurisdictions under Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric. Smaller municipal utilities like Sacramento Municipal Utility District aren’t included in CAISO’s figures, so the overall solar energy generation for the state is even higher than reported.

Interestingly, the peak in solar energy generation is still far off from the state’s electricity demands, reports CleanTechnica.com. Utility-scale solar and other renewables make up approximately “29 percent of the network’s electricity needs,” which “wasn’t even close to the percentage record set earlier this year.” Renewable energy (produced by utility-scale operations) met as much as 54 percent and 56 percent of CAISO’s electricity needs on May 14 and May 15, respectively, although only for portions of each day. Essentially, while the records in energy generation are exciting, there is still a long way to go before California’s clean energy can edge out fossil fuels.

One thought on “California hit yet another record high in solar energy generation”

This might be result of disruptive technology in solar energy generation. See, now the efficiency of these solar cells increase from 10% to 40% and the price goes down to ground. There are Photovoltaic cells and now the nano technology involves in these PV cells makes these cells more efficient then ever, apart from these there are some more technology which makes solar power more usable to make energy.
http://www.greyb.com/5-disruptive-breakthroughs-solar-cells/
Here I read about these technologies, hope you like it.
Thanks